Student Learning Guide to Pierre La Plante s American Riversongs This guide belongs to
2 CONTENTS Learning Goals 3 Assignments 3 Historical Notes 4 Practice Guide 7 Creative Project 10 Optional Band Project 10 Glossary 11
3 LEARNING GOALS 1 By the end of the instructional period for this unit you should be able to: 1. Play, accurately and expressively, your part to American Riversongs. 2. Play the BÍ, EÍ and F major scales. Play, sing and identify by ear intervals and chords given in the Practice Guide. 3. Define terms in the Glossary. 4. Give background information on Pierre La Plante, Stephen Foster, the English folk song revival and the use of folk song in band music. 5. Complete a creative project or optional band project. ASSIGNMENTS Before beginning work on the assignments below, examine the learning goals for the unit, read the Historical Notes and section marked Important Information and study the terms in the Glossary. Your grade for the unit will be based on your demonstrated mastery of the learning goals (ability to play your part and satisfactory completion of assignments, creative project and unit quiz). Be sure to review all terms in the Glossary prior to taking the quiz. This unit will take approximately six to eight weeks to complete. Your band director will guide you through its completion. Practice Assignment: See Practice Guide. Begin working on this assignment as soon as possible and continue until you master the skills. Listening Assignment: Listen to a recording of American Riversongs while following the score. A score and recording will be made available by your band director. Complete listening assignment by Creative Project (or Optional Band Project) Complete project by 1 This guide is based on the Teaching-Learning Units created by Dr. Robert J. Garofolo for Meredith Music. It follows the same general format, and in some cases uses the same wording as Dr. Garofolo.
4 HISTORICAL NOTES About the COMPOSITION American Riversongs was written in 1988 for the Oberlin High School Band in Oberlin, Ohio, Stephen Johnson III, director. The composer describes the music as based on traditional and composed music of an earlier time, when the rivers and waterways were the lifelines of a growing nation. 2 American Riversongs is a setting of three folksongs: Down the River, Shenandoah, and The Glendy Burke. The final section, The Glendy Burke, also incorporates a Creole tune as a secondary theme that makes it sounds very dance-like. This piece is one of the most performed pieces of music in Texas, appearing in the top 20 pieces played by AAA, AAAA, and AAAA bands. About the COMPOSER Pierre La Plante was born and grew up Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he earned degrees in Music. He taught for many years at all levels and is currently retired. He has written extensively for young bands, and his music is frequently played by bands all over the country. Visit his website, http://www.pierrelaplantemusic.com, to learn more about La Plante and his music. About STEPHEN FOSTER Stephen Foster (1826-1864) was a songwriter who wrote many famous songs. Among them, Beautiful Dreamer, Oh! Susannah, Camptown Races, Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair, and The Glendy Burke. He is considered the Father of American Music. Foster began working as an engineer, but eventually was able to make a living as a songwriter a difficult feat in an era with very little copyright 2 La Plante, Pierre. American Riversongs. (Daehn Publications, New Glarus, WI: 1991).
5 protection. 3 He grew up in Pennsylvania and lived in Ohio and New York. He died in poverty in New York City. His music endures to this day as part of the American cultural heritage. Composer Aaron Copland said of him, We have our national hero in Stephen Foster. More songwriter than composer, and with a naturalness of feeling that places his melodies with the folk song, his simplicity and honesty are not easy to imitate. But this same simplicity and naturalness inspired a definite type of our own music. There is a very informative website dedicated to Stephen Foster and his music. Visit http://www.stephen-foster-songs.de/ for more information. About FOLK SONG IN BAND MUSIC The use of folk songs as source material for band compositions is part of the heritage of the wind band. The latter part of the nineteenth century and the first few years of the twentieth century saw a surge of interest in the collecting and publishing of folk songs from rural England. The songs were collected from the working class peoples of rural England, mostly in Sussex and Surrey. Often, not much is known about the singer, but in a few cases we know much about them. The songs themselves were often suggestive and modal, leading some publishers to alter the text and a few to rewrite the melody to fit the prevailing major-minor aesthetics of the day. The Folk Song Society (later the English Folk Dance and Song Society) was founded in June of 1898. Its publication, Journal of the Folk Song Society, became an avenue for publication of these collected songs. It was in these pages that Percy Grainger first published three of the songs that he would eventually use for Lincolnshire Posy. Three major composers of band music were involved with the Folk Song Society: Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger. Holst wrote his Second Suite in F for Military Band utilizing folk songs. Vaughan Williams wrote English Folk Song Suite in the same manner. Both of these pieces weave folk songs together to create beautiful music. Grainger was well known for using single folk songs for each piece. 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/stephen_foster, accessed, May 8, 2011.
6 Among Grainer s best known folk song works for band are: Irish Tune from County Derry, Shepherd s Hey, Molly on the Shore and Lincolnshire Posy. Other compositions for band utilizing folk songs are: Pentland Hills by James H. Howe Cajun Folk Songs, Cajun Folk Songs II, and Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs by Frank Ticheli A Longford Legend by Robert Sheldon Folksong Suites no. 1, 2 and 3 by David Stanhope Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett La Fiesta Mexicana by H. Owen Reed PRACTICE GUIDE 1. Practice your part to American Riversongs until you can play it accurately and expressively. Mastery of the skills listed below should help you to play your part. Procedures: a) Practice your part slowly with a metronome starting at a slow tempo. b) Gradually increase tempo as you gain accuracy. c) Practice with a friend to work on matching pitch, style and note length. 2. Practice the BÍ, EÍ and F major scales. The pitch names for these scales are given below for all instruments. BÍ MAJOR Scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Concert Pitch Instruments BÍ C D EÍ F G A BÍ BÍ Transposing Instruments AÍ BÍ C D EÍ F G AÍ EÍ Transposing Instruments DÍ EÍ F GÍ AÍ BÍ C DÍ F Transposing Instruments EÍ F G AÍ BÍ C D BÍ
7 EÍ MAJOR SCALE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Concert Pitch Instruments EÍ F G AÍ BÍ C D EÍ BÍ Transposing Instruments DÍ EÍ F GÍ AÍ BÍ C DÍ EÍ Transposing Instruments GÍ AÍ BÍ CÍ DÍ EÍ F GÍ F Transposing Instruments AÍ BÍ C DÍ EÍ F G AÍ F MAJOR Scale 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Concert Pitch Instruments F G A BÍ C D E F BÍ Transposing Instruments EÍ F G AÍ BÍ C D EÍ EÍ Transposing Instruments B CÌ D E F G A B F Transposing Instruments AÍ BÍ C DÍ EÍ F G AÍ Procedures: a) Practice slowly at first in a comfortable one-octave range using the scale rhythm. b) Gradually increase speed until you can play the scale at 120 bpm or faster. c) If practical, play the scale two octaves both ascending and descending. 3. Vary the scales by using the articulation patterns from the Technical Exercises in the book Foundations for Superior Performance in Band. 4. Vary the scales by changing your dynamics as you play a. Practice long tone crescendos and decrescendos from pp to ff. b. Keep air support throughout. c. Use faster air speed for more volume and slower air speed for less. d. Be sure the pitch does not go sharp or flat with a change of dynamics.
8 5. Intervals and Chords Intervals: An interval is the distance between two pitches. Intervals may be sounded melodically (one after the other) or harmonically (simultaneously). Intervals are identified by their quality Perfect (P), Major (M), minor (m), Augmented (A) and diminished (d) and their distance (2 nd, 3 rd, 4 th, 5 th, 6 th, 7 th, and so on). Intervals have expressive characteristics that are determined by their degree of tension. There are twelve basic intervals contained within the octave. In this unit you will learn how to play, sing, hear and recognize 3 of these intervals (see below). Assignment: Practice and be able to identify by ear the following ascending major scale intervals. With a friend, practice being able to identify the intervals by ear. Chords: The simultaneous sounding of three or more pitches produces a chord. Chords represent the vertical organization of pitches in music, also called harmony. Chords that are most familiar to our ears are those built on interval of a third (tertian harmony), such as triads and sevenths of which there are several different types. In this unit you will learn how to play, sing, hear and recognize two triads (major and minor), as these are used extensively throughout American Riversongs. Triads are three-note chords consisting of a root, third and fifth. A major triad has a major third interval between the root and the third of the chord. A minor triad has a minor third between the root and the third. Both chords have a perfect fifth interval between the root and the fifth.
9 Assignment: practice and be able to identify by ear the following chords with added tones. CREATIVE PROJECT Find (or compose) a short folk melody, children s song or chorale and edit the tune for your instrument. If necessary, transpose the music to a comfortable key and change the clef. Be sure to mark in your own tempo, dynamics and articulations. Be able to play what you write. Ask your instructor for help if you need it. OPTIONAL BAND PROJECT For extra credit or in place of the creative project, select one of the following. Ask your band director for assistance if needed. 1. Learn to play Shenandoah on your instrument. 2. Listen to and report on one of the musical compositions based on folk music listed in this guide. 3. Determine your own project with the approval of your teacher.
10 GLOSSARY Arrangement An adaptation of an existing piece of music. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structure. Chorale A type of music that tends to have simple, singable melodies. It may or may not be harmonized with other voices that add consonance and dissonance. Medley form A type of music composition which strings together several different sequences of self-contained sections. Ragtime A type of music, originally for dancing, which made use of syncopated or ragged rhythms. A precursor to jazz music. Strophic a term used to designate the form or organization of a song in which all stanzas of the text are sung to the same music, for example a hymn or folksong.
11 Terms and symbols from Music: Look up what you don t know in a musical dictionary and write the definitions here. ad libitum (ad lib) crescendo (cresc.) - diminuendo (dim.) - divisi (div) - espressivo (espr) - marcato (marc) - molto moderato - sim soli tutti
12
NOTES 13
14